Mahela'becomes: fifth Lankan to join 7000 club

Chennai, June 9 (UNI) Asian XI skipper Mahela Jayawardene today became the 23rd player in the world and the fifth Sri Lankan to score 7000 runs in One Day Internationals.

Playing his 251st match, the stylish right-handed batsman who turned 30 recently reached the milestone when he reached 40 with a single of off spinner Vusumuzi Sibanda during the second match of the Afro-Asian cup at the M A Chidambaram stadium.

He is the fifth Sri Lankan to join the 7000-club after Sanath Jayasuriya (12,039 runs), Aravinda De silva (9,284), Marvan Attapattu (8,529) and World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga (7,456).

Jayawardene, who made his debut against Zimbabwe in January 1998 at Colombo, has so far scored nine 100s and 41 50s in his nine year career.

India's Sachin Tendulkar tops the list of highest run scorers in ODIs which has seven players scoring in excess of 10,000 runs.

Sachin heads the list with 14,847 runs in 384 matches. The 10,000 club includes former Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya, former skippers Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saurav Ganguly, Brian lara, Current Aussie captain Ricky Ponting and team India captain Rahul Dravid.

UNI